Good morning.
The Association québécoise des indépendants du pétrole represents petroleum companies active in Quebec. They are involved in imports, distribution and retail sales of fuel, heating oil, and lubricants. Retail sales for petroleum companies in Quebec represent $1 billion a year.
We are aware of the government's concerns about the accuracy of measuring devices. The AQIP feels that it is normal and to be expected that consumers receive the amounts of fuel they are billed for. Therefore, the AQIP is not opposed to implementing the kinds of clauses that Bill C-14 contains. However, we have a hard time understanding why the bill has been called the Fairness at the Pumps Act. That implies that currently the amounts of fuel being measured at the pump are inaccurate.
Yet, when Measurement Canada began consultations on this in August 2008, we asked for a serious study to assess the situation regarding the accuracy of devices or meters used in measuring the fuel being sold. We were never told that this type of study had been undertaken. What we did notice was that the government seemed to be relying on an article in the Ottawa Citizen, which claimed that consumers were not receiving the amount of fuel they had paid for.
Fraud is a serious accusation and must be based on proof rather than a newspaper clipping. We are even more surprised about the direction this debate has taken given that in Quebec, there are regulations under which fuel retailers must ensure that—and I will quote from the regulation—“all fuel distributors with underground tanks must have meters which shall be calibrated at least once every two years”. This requirement is in section 141 of the Safety Code in Quebec's Building Act. In order, therefore, to avoid further red tape, we insist that the federal government refrain from adding regulations, given that the provincial government has already taken on this responsibility.